Monthly Archives: October 2013

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The SFVOS was the recipient of a very generous donation of over 100 Cymbidium Orchid Plants by the Estate of Mr. Yee Quon (“Jack”) Tom. Jack Tom passed away on May 23rd, 2013. Jack loved his orchids, and at one point had over 300 Orchid plants in his collection. He took meticulous care of his prized collection and there were always blooming orchids in their beautiful hillside home in Eagle Rock.

Jack Tom was born eldest of seven in Guangdong Province, China on August 24, 1925. At 19, during China’s conflict with Japan, he left home to pursue his goals and ambitions. He was employed with various government agencies including Yuebei Iron Factory Accounting Department, Quijiang Wushi Training Department, and the Yangjiang County Taxation Department among others. After WW II, he worked in the Cashier’s Division at Guangzhou’s Sun Yet-Sen University. Mr. Tom arrived in Los Angeles in 1951 to work at his father’s restaurant. In 1956, along with friends, he opened the Taoyaun Restaurant in Chinatown.

In 1958, he returned to Hong Kong to marry Dora Chan. The newlyweds returned to Los Angeles to start a family. After the closure of Taoyaun Restaurant, Jack was employed as the chief chef at the famous Kowloon and Wan-Q Restaurants on the Westside. After 40 years in the restaurant business, Jack retired to focus on fruit trees and cultivating orchids. He especially enjoyed reading, listening to classical music, watching NBA basketball, and recreational cooking. In life, he always treated others amicably, with friendship. He took care of his wife, sons, and siblings with love. Jack believed he lived a good life, with a virtuous wife, with filial children, and experienced happiness and longevity. He is survived by and missed by Dora, wife of 55 years, his sons Stanley and Homer, daughter in law Joni, grandson Nathan, and his remaining brother and sisters in the U.S. and China.

We would like to thank the Tom Family for their generous donation. I am sure Jack would be pleased to know that his beloved Orchids will be adopted and cared for by the members of The SFVOS. If you would like to see a slideshow of Mr. Tom’s beautiful orchids, please visit http://www.tributes.com/show/95870991# and click on the photo of Jack then select “Jack’s Orchids” from the photo albums available under the main photo.

Habenaria radiata is a small terrestrial orchid that grows in grassy wetlands throughout Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Russia and some parts of eastern China. It is commonly known as the White Egret Flower. It is also sometimes referred to as the Fringed Orchid or Sagiso.

This orchid’s flower indeed looks much like a Snowy Egret with its wings wide open. Japan is home to many snowy egrets and they often share the same habitats with this little flower. This rare orchid has recently gained recognition around the world for its beauty, but ironically this species is now considered imperiled in the wild.

The leaves are similar to grass blades, between 5-20 cm long, and about 1 cm wide each. New leaves form every spring. Flowering commences in late July and peaks in August. The flower stalk holds anywhere from 1 to 8 flowers, each being around 4 cm wide. The lip, as well as the petals, are pristine white, whereas the sepals are small and greenish.

The plant grows from a small underground tuber, no more than a couple centimeters long, Because this plant is deciduous the tuber serves as an energy source early in its growth cycle, allowing new leaves and a flower spike to form.

This species is in rapid decline over its entire range. Over collection may be a contributing factor, but for the most part the loss has been due to habitat destruction. In the distant past these plants grew in lowland bogs and marshes in the same areas where rice patties were later situated. Rice cultivation rapidly increased, taking more and more of the unique habitat, which was then followed by urbanization, and in lowland areas this species became more and more rare in the wild.

Nowadays, Habenaria radiata exists mostly in upland bogs and seepage slopes in moderate to high mountains (over 500 meters elevation). Because these areas are not considered suitable for agriculture this plant (along with other rare plants) has found its last remaining habitat in modern Japan. While it still can be found on all of Japan’s main islands it is endangered throughout its entire range and is completely gone in some areas.

Most experienced orchid growers find it quite difficult to keep for more than a season or two. This orchid requires conditions not easily duplicated outside it’s natural environment. Because this orchid is endangered one would hope that orchid growers would recognize the need to stop collecting them from the wild so we can keep as many of them alive in their native environments. We should be grateful we can enjoy these orchids vicariously through photographs, and hope we can preserve these unique and beautiful orchids for generations to come.

Psychopsis, abbreviated Psychp in horticultural trade, is a genus of only four species of orchids distributed from the West Indies and Costa Rica to Peru, where it grows on the trunks and branches of trees.

These orchids are particularly mysterious and are called butterfly orchids. The flower moves in the wind, and mimics a female butterfly which attracts male butterflies to try and mate with it, thus pollinating the flower. It also might have a second trick. The butterfly-like flower might attract a parasitic insect on the lookout for butterflies, or it fools a male butterfly into thinking it’s a female.

There’s even a fun word for it: pseudocopulation. Either way, the orchid succeeds in getting its seeds distributed to continue the life cycle. We got to see a hybrid butterfly orchid.

Originally described by John Lindley as Oncidiumpapilio, it was removed to the genus Psychopsis by H. G. Jones (1975) in the Journal of the Barbados Museum Historical Society (p. 32). Caution: it’s still marketed occasionally under the old name by some vendors, and under both names by less scrupulous ones!

Psychopsispapilio(Ldl..) Jones. Photo: DSC_7781 04 May, 2006.

This species is a native of low-mountain forests in Trinidad, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It resembles certain species of South American butterflies so well that males attempt to mate with it, and in doing so, pollinate it. P.papilio (Fig. 11) puts out a long rachis. This particular plant’s flower was held on one about 7.5 decimeters (about 30 inches) long, putting it well above the plant’s leaves where it may flutter lightly in a breeze and aide its butterfly mimicry. Another aid to butterfly mimicry is that flowers bloom successively; not a few at the same time.

Psychopsispapilio is often confused with P.kramerianum (see below) which is from Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, and Peru, but P.papilio has a bilaterally compressed peduncle lacking swollen nodes (P.kramerianum: peduncle terete), and the wings on the columns of each species are shaped differently.

Found from Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru in tropical lowland and lower montane rainforests on large branches at altitudes of 50 to 1300 meters as a medium sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte with small dollar shaped, laterally compressed psuedobulbs subtended by imbricate bracts with spotted undersides of the single, apical, rigid, leathery, persistent, elliptic-oblong, acute, contracted into a short, folded petiole leaf that blooms on a 3′ [90 cm] long, erect, 1 to 2 flowered at a time, successive opening inflorescence with ovate-triangular bracts and large showy flowers. These inflorescence, if left alone can bloom for years so do not cut them as they also can produce plantlets.

Book Review:
The Orchid Whisperer

The Orchid Whisperer is an eminently intelligent and attractive book for beginning orchid growers. While not actually advocating muttering at plants (at least not as an active growing tool), it presents plenty of easy-to-understand advice to get novice growers on the road to success. At the same time, author Bruce Rogers, a longtime commercial orchid man, makes it all so readable. Unlike some other “beginner”advice books, Rogers’ language is engaging and humorous, and strikes the right balance between being easy to read and needing a science degree to understand.

Rogers departs from the frequent novice- formula of analyzing conditions and buying plants to match those conditions. Instead, he suggests new growers buy what they like and then look for places inside their homes hospitable to the plants. His topics include practical advice on buying and selecting plants, mixes and repotting, light and temperature, watering and pests. In addition to the usual recommendations about beginning with phalaenopsis and cattleyas, he provides details on other genera such as miltoniopsis and reed-stem epidendrums. Rogers is unabashedly organic, offering green solutions to common pests like mealybugs, aphids and spider mites. He is also unabashedly optimistic, assuring his readers that their orchids can be kept blooming “no matter your experience level, budget, or locations.”

Then there’s Rogers’ humor:
“My advice is to learn how to repot cymbidiums, then find a job that pays well enough that you can hire someone to repot your cymbidiums.”

Graphically, the color photographs by Greg Allikas are excellent and the occasional checklist of tips practical and well organized. Rogers even adds a chapter on decorating with orchids, which is interesting enough to challenge even experienced growers to new levels of creativity. One more chart summarizing the light, water and temperature requirements of the included species might have been beneficial, but that’s available from other sources. The Orchid Whisperer is one to put on the holiday list for novice orchidists, or for those who may cuss while repotting.

— Sue Volek has been growing orchids as a hobby for more than 15 years, in San Diego, Washington, DC, and now Portland. She is on the board of the Oregon Orchid Society, an AOS affiliate, and has been an AOS member for more than 15 years.